Given everything that’s happened over the last few years, more and more people are choosing to shop local.
This seems to be the trend in pretty much every industry, with merchants and their supporters encouraging people in their area to shop locally.
But for whatever reason, this same sentiment isn’t shared in the payment processing industry.
It really is sad, because smaller local payment processing providers can actually be your best option, especially if you own a small business.
At the same time, smaller businesses like us weren’t insulated from the effects of pandemic restrictions the way the banks and the big box stores were, so having the support of our local community has become more important than ever.
That being said, we feel it’s important to highlight this issue, not just for our own purposes, and those of the businesses we serve, but also for the payment processing industry as a whole.
So, if you’re shopping around for payment processing, and you want to learn why a local payment processor could be your best option, then you should definitely keep reading.
Because in this article, we’re going to explore why the payment processing industry doesn’t embrace the idea of shopping locally, why that needs to change, and how your business can benefit from choosing a local payment processor.
Why Don’t People Shop Locally for Payment Processing?
Before we get into why this needs to change, and how choosing a local payment processor can benefit your business, it’s important to explain why people don’t shop locally for payment processing.
First of all, we should point out that the payment processing industry is and always has been dominated by banks. And for the most part, banks are multinational conglomerates, which seem to have no allegiance to anything, including their customers.
That being said, the idea that people should shop local is at the bottom of these companies’ lists of priorities because they have nothing to gain from people shopping locally for their payment processing.
On the contrary, banks would rather get rid of this idea entirely, and they’re never going to promote it because that would cut into their business.
So, what ends up happening is most business owners are completely unaware that a local payment processing provider is even an option. And as a result, most of them end up getting their payment processing from a bank without even considering their options.
Simultaneously, many business owners have the erroneous belief that banks can provide better security, or offer a better deal, but this just isn’t true.
If you want to learn more about these falsehoods, you can check out our article on Two of the Biggest Myths About Payment Processing.
Long story short, there are plenty of local payment processors out there, and in addition to being able to offer the same level of security as the big banks, many of them are also able to offer lower prices and significantly better service.
Why Does This Need to Change?
Aside from the fact that the big banks are dominating this industry at the expense of business owners (most of whom are their customers), there are some other reasons why this state of affairs desperately needs to change.
For one thing, if you’re a local business owner, then you’re probably already aware that the more money you spend at other local businesses, the more money those business owners and their employees will have to spend at businesses like yours, instead of the big box stores, and this benefits the vast majority of business owners.
This also allows you to develop mutually beneficial relationships with more local merchants, which helps to unify and bolster the business community in your area.
Our founder, Surge Cumiskey, makes a point of doing this whenever she can, by shopping at her local produce market, for example, instead of going to the big supermarkets.
Another important point to make here is that shopping locally helps to strengthen not just your local economy, but also the Canadian economy as a whole.
Sadly, a lot of our competitors claim to be Canadian, but many of them are subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies that simply operate in Canada, which makes it even more important to be sure you’re picking a payment processor who’s 100 per cent Canadian, like us.
At the end of the day, we all live and work in this economy, so shopping locally, and encouraging others to do so, will indirectly benefit us, as well.
What Are the Benefits of Local Payment Processing?
At this point, you’re probably wanting us to get to the point already and explain how local payment processing can benefit your business.
So, with that in mind, below we’ve detailed several ways that your business can benefit from choosing a local payment processor.
Competition
As we’ve pointed out many times before, Canadian merchants pay an exorbitant amount for their payment processing, with the price being much higher than it is in most countries.
The main reason for this is that the banks have been taking advantage for far too long, benefiting from the fact that many business owners are unaware of how our industry works, and oblivious to the fact that they don’t have to get their payment processing from a bank.
Banks also have massive overhead costs, so the reality is they have to charge as much as they can possibly get away with.
And because banks are basically guaranteed a steady stream of customers, they don’t really have any incentive to lower their prices anyway.
So, if you want to save money on payment processing, one of the best things you can do is choose a non-bank provider.
Because if more and more business owners choose to get their payment processing from non-bank providers, eventually, this will give the banks a run for their money, and they’ll be forced to lower their prices in an effort to be more competitive.
Lower Prices
Believe it or not, nine times out of ten, we’re able to save people money on their payment processing.
But how are smaller local providers like us able to do that?
Well, we can’t speak for the competition, but our policy is to treat every customer on a case-by-case basis, instead of offering a one-size-fits-all service like the banks, which means we’ll actually take the time to do things like going through customers’ statements to find out where we can save them money.
We also prefer to use what’s known as cost-plus pricing, which means that when credit card companies lower their rates, those savings will always be reflected on your bill, and we’ll never try to take advantage of the situation by padding your bill with “miscellaneous fees” as banks typically do.
What’s more, we don’t have the massive overhead that the banks do, so we don’t feel the need to squeeze every last dollar out of every customer, and we can actually focus on doing what’s in the best interests of our fellow business owners, like helping them to save money.
If you want to learn more about why smaller local payment processors might be able to offer you a better deal, we go into much more detail in our article, Want to Save Money on Payment Processing? Stop Giving Your Business to Banks.
Better Service
If you’ve ever called your bank to ask a question or get clarification on something, you’ve probably experienced the annoyance of being left on hold or being passed around between departments.
When it comes to large corporations like banks, this just seems to be the norm, but when you go with a smaller local provider, there are many reasons why you’re likely to get higher-quality service.
For example, banks have a huge number of customers, so they run their customer service departments like an assembly line, keeping people on hold for hours, pawning them off on chatbots, and doing whatever they can to get them off the phone as quickly as possible.
But when you call our support line, you’re not going to be sitting on hold forever, and in most cases, the first person who picks up the phone will be able to answer your question or resolve your issue.
You’re also going to be dealing with friendlier people who actually care about the best interests of business owners and have a better understanding of what it’s like to own a business.
At the same time, smaller local providers like us can offer you a level of service that you’re just never going to get from a bank.
For instance, depending on where the customer is located, and if it’s feasible for us to get there, we’ll actually send someone to help them hook up their terminal, and ensure they understand everything.
Moreover, while we don’t do tech support on our terminals, as that’s done by the company that provides the equipment, on several occasions, we’ve even gone down to a business’ physical location, helped them to phone the support line, and made sure that the problem was resolved.
And this is the kind of personalized service that you’re never going to get from a bank.
Are you looking for a local provider to help you save money on your payment processing? Give us a call today to learn more about what we can do for you.
